Archive | Mac

If you happen to lose your beloved iPad or iPhone, wouldn’t it be nice to rely upon the chance that the goodness of people will prevail in returning it to your hands?

Naive? Perhaps. Nonetheless, it’s worth a shot. Pondering this today, I decided to create my own custom lock screen with my basic contact info overlaid on top of the image.

Here’s how:

Using an image editor (I used Photoshop), create a new file at a resolution of 2048 x 1536px for the iPad 3 (new iPad). iPhone 4 / 4S would be 960 x 640px. iPad 1 / 2 would be 1024 x 768px.

Plan to design your contact info to fit with the consideration of the top menu and lock area. (roughly 230px from the top and 192px from the bottom)

Add new layers with your contact info (link them so you can move them around together)

Save as a layered file (PSD or TIFF in Photoshop) so you can repeat the process with other backgrounds.

Save as a jpg or PNG

A couple of issues with this method – obviously you’ll have to consider that the contact info will be oriented to either landscape or portrait. There are apps out there that overlay the text from an app but I found them to be less than ideal and unsupportive of retina displays at this point. So if your info is oriented to the side on an image such as below, it’ll get cut off when you turn it to portrait. However, you can also simply put your info more centered as in the second example.

Here’s mine:

This method isn’t perfect, but it really only takes a few minutes once you get a template set up. For now I feel slightly more at ease knowing that there’s a better chance my iPad will get returned to me should I misplace it. If you have other ideas or another method please do share!

If you happen to lose your beloved iPad or iPhone, wouldn’t it be nice to rely upon the chance that the goodness of people will prevail in returning it to your hands?

Naive? Perhaps. Nonetheless, it’s worth a shot. Pondering this today, I decided to create my own custom lock screen with my basic contact info overlaid on top of the image.

Here’s how:

Using an image editor (I used Photoshop), create a new file at a resolution of 2048 x 1536px for the iPad 3 (new iPad). iPhone 4 / 4S would be 960 x 640px. iPad 1 / 2 would be 1024 x 768px.

Plan to design your contact info to fit with the consideration of the top menu and lock area. (roughly 230px from the top and 192px from the bottom)

Add new layers with your contact info (link them so you can move them around together)

Save as a layered file (PSD or TIFF in Photoshop) so you can repeat the process with other backgrounds.

Save as a jpg or PNG

A couple of issues with this method – obviously you’ll have to consider that the contact info will be oriented to either landscape or portrait. There are apps out there that overlay the text from an app but I found them to be less than ideal and unsupportive of retina displays at this point. So if your info is oriented to the side on an image such as below, it’ll get cut off when you turn it to portrait. However, you can also simply put your info more centered as in the second example.

Here’s mine:

This method isn’t perfect, but it really only takes a few minutes once you get a template set up. For now I feel slightly more at ease knowing that there’s a better chance my iPad will get returned to me should I misplace it. If you have other ideas or another method please do share!

If you happen to lose your beloved iPad or iPhone, wouldn’t it be nice to rely upon the chance that the goodness of people will prevail in returning it to your hands?

Naive? Perhaps. Nonetheless, it’s worth a shot. Pondering this today, I decided to create my own custom lock screen with my basic contact info overlaid on top of the image.

Here’s how:

Using an image editor (I used Photoshop), create a new file at a resolution of 2048 x 1536px for the iPad 3 (new iPad). iPhone 4 / 4S would be 960 x 640px. iPad 1 / 2 would be 1024 x 768px.

Plan to design your contact info to fit with the consideration of the top menu and lock area. (roughly 230px from the top and 192px from the bottom)

Add new layers with your contact info (link them so you can move them around together)

Save as a layered file (PSD or TIFF in Photoshop) so you can repeat the process with other backgrounds.

Save as a jpg or PNG

A couple of issues with this method – obviously you’ll have to consider that the contact info will be oriented to either landscape or portrait. There are apps out there that overlay the text from an app but I found them to be less than ideal and unsupportive of retina displays at this point. So if your info is oriented to the side on an image such as below, it’ll get cut off when you turn it to portrait. However, you can also simply put your info more centered as in the second example.

Here’s mine:

This method isn’t perfect, but it really only takes a few minutes once you get a template set up. For now I feel slightly more at ease knowing that there’s a better chance my iPad will get returned to me should I misplace it. If you have other ideas or another method please do share!

A tremendous amount has happened since my last update, with the most important change being the start of a new role at work. I’ve now taken on the position as IT Coordinator for the HS and program leader for the computer dept. It’s a highly demanding role, but a challenge I welcome and was ready for. I’ll continue with technology integration but in correlation with the coordination. I haven’t had a moment to catch my breath in 2 1/2 weeks and am often working late into the evening, hence the lack of blogging.

—

We were in the States all summer, mainly on a beautiful lake in Tennessee, but also a couple of weeks near Clearwater Beach, Florida. All in all it was a wonderful summer spent relaxing with family and taking time to enjoy a digital diet. Each time I return it feels harder to leave, but I also feel quite content with the expat lifestyle overseas.

We’re back in Manila in our new house in Makati (heart of downtown Manila). It’s great to have so much space and a quiet office of my own, but I miss the amenities of condo living. I’m sure once we’re more settled it’ll grow on us.

—

On a spur of the moment decision days before leaving the States I sold my primary Mac – my 17″ MacBook Pro. I had a really tough time deciding what to do about a new computer. The new MacBook Airs are incredibly fast for their size and I was contemplating picking up the 11″ Air and using the 27″ Thunderbolt display at home. In the end I decided that in order to best get back into my love of photography, the power and size of the 27″ iMac is the way to go. I ordered the BTO top of the line: 3.4 Ghz, 12GB RAM (8GB from Crucial that I’ll install myself), 256 GB SSD + 2TB internal drive, and 2 GB GPU. It should be a beast that will last me many years. I’ll likely supplement the iMac with a 2012 Ivy Bridge MacBook Air in a year or so for the best in power and portability. (we already have a Macbook / iPad / iPhone, etc that can get me by for a while)

Unfortunately, the Philippines built-to-order Macs take quite a long time to be delivered. I’ve been told it could be up to 6 weeks. Ugh. So in the meantime I am quite limited in my photo editing capability.

—

Overall, I’m quite happy with how things are progressing with life in Manila. Love the job, like the house we’re in, the coworkers are fantastic, and surprisingly I’m enjoying Manila more the longer I live here. There are many things I miss about Indonesia (we’ll be back in October for 10 days), but for the next couple of years (at minimum) we’ll remain happily in the Philippines.

A tremendous amount has happened since my last update, with the most important change being the start of a new role at work. I’ve now taken on the position as IT Coordinator for the HS and program leader for the computer dept. It’s a highly demanding role, but a challenge I welcome and was ready for. I’ll continue with technology integration but in correlation with the coordination. I haven’t had a moment to catch my breath in 2 1/2 weeks and am often working late into the evening, hence the lack of blogging.

—

We were in the States all summer, mainly on a beautiful lake in Tennessee, but also a couple of weeks near Clearwater Beach, Florida. All in all it was a wonderful summer spent relaxing with family and taking time to enjoy a digital diet. Each time I return it feels harder to leave, but I also feel quite content with the expat lifestyle overseas.

We’re back in Manila in our new house in Makati (heart of downtown Manila). It’s great to have so much space and a quiet office of my own, but I miss the amenities of condo living. I’m sure once we’re more settled it’ll grow on us.

—

On a spur of the moment decision days before leaving the States I sold my primary Mac – my 17″ MacBook Pro. I had a really tough time deciding what to do about a new computer. The new MacBook Airs are incredibly fast for their size and I was contemplating picking up the 11″ Air and using the 27″ Thunderbolt display at home. In the end I decided that in order to best get back into my love of photography, the power and size of the 27″ iMac is the way to go. I ordered the BTO top of the line: 3.4 Ghz, 12GB RAM (8GB from Crucial that I’ll install myself), 256 GB SSD + 2TB internal drive, and 2 GB GPU. It should be a beast that will last me many years. I’ll likely supplement the iMac with a 2012 Ivy Bridge MacBook Air in a year or so for the best in power and portability. (we already have a Macbook / iPad / iPhone, etc that can get me by for a while)

Unfortunately, the Philippines built-to-order Macs take quite a long time to be delivered. I’ve been told it could be up to 6 weeks. Ugh. So in the meantime I am quite limited in my photo editing capability.

—

Overall, I’m quite happy with how things are progressing with life in Manila. Love the job, like the house we’re in, the coworkers are fantastic, and surprisingly I’m enjoying Manila more the longer I live here. There are many things I miss about Indonesia (we’ll be back in October for 10 days), but for the next couple of years (at minimum) we’ll remain happily in the Philippines.